The highly inbred strain of anophthalmic mouse (ey-1/ey-1) has been studied with regard to genetics and eye development. Earlier studies have indicated that the apparently normal optic vesicle fails to induce a lens resulting in the failure of optic development. A study utilizing newer histological and cytochemical techniques including the electron microscope is proposed to investigate this system in greater detail. Of particular interest here will be the ultrastructure of the developing eye region. Although the anophthalmia in these animals is more extreme than the human abnormality, 10% of these animals exhibit various degrees of microphthalmia comparable to human pathology. A significant number of this group of animals also develop cataracts in early adulthood. The development of this pathology will be studied using the cytological methods mentioned. The behavior of the lens epithelium will be studied in tissue culture. These studies will concentrate on the ability of the epithelial cells to elongate normally in culture.